Ghana’s housing market has been booming. Fueled by a growing middle class, construction of luxury apartments and townhouses can be found throughout the country’s major cities. Skylines are dotted with cranes and cement building frames. These luxury residences offer every amenity imaginable, rooftop pools, gyms, gardens, even daily cleaning services. However, this can create a disillusioned picture as there are still parts of even Accra where chickens and goats roam the streets, homelessness is prevalent, and buildings are vastly overcrowded.
Nearly 5.35 million Ghanaians, 37.9% of Ghana’s total urban population, live in slums, according to the United Nations. Ghana has an estimated housing deficit of 1.7 million units. The Ministry of Water Resources, Works, and Housing, estimates that Ghana needs to provide 85,000 housing units annually to match demand.
Cities such as Accra are experiencing significant urbanization rates of over 2%. The demand for low income housing far exceeds the supply. The existing low income housing is often fraught with issues. Places may lack basic amenities, such as proper sanitation facilities, or may not be of sound structural integrity, such as having poor roofing, letting in rain and insects.
Overcrowding is a persistent issue for tenants of low income housing. A study conducted CHF International found that an average of 48 people live in each house in the Ga Mashie District. Homelessness is another notable issue, with a 2014 estimate by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly that there are 90,000 homeless children simply in the Greater Accra Region.
Much of Ghana’s housing market is informal and, while illegal in practice, renters may ask for a 2-year payment up front, which is extremely difficult for many due to seasonal work or irregular payment schedules.
The rise of luxury homes has led Accra to become increasingly gentrified and income segregated. Certain neighborhoods have starkly different levels of average income and standards of housing, with areas such as East Legion and Cantonments on upper extreme and Jamestown and Nima on the lower.
In a span of just 5 years, the number of gated communities in Ghana increased by well over 100%. Monthly rental prices for these places range from USD 1,500 – 4,500, which is simply an infeasible number for many. Ghana’s average income has been increasing as the state’s economy steadily develops, but many people are being outpriced from city. They now face long commutes in congested traffic to city centers, business districts, and schools.
While many administrations have previously attempted to address the issue of shortages of low income housing, the problem persists. Multiple abandoned government funded housing projects can be found across the state, leaving behind just concrete skeletons of multiple story buildings.
Access to luxury housing has attracted some who may have previously taken their money outside of the country to stay in Ghana, now pumping money into the local economy. However, there is a large issue in regards to the imbalance of types of construction projects. To solve this issue, a public-private partnership should be reached, for many solely government sponsored programs have failed and businesses will continue to focus almost exclusively on the upper classes, which are most profitable, without some sort of government provided initiative to do otherwise.
By: Andrew David
